A doctrinal statement issued in 2000 by the First Presidency and Quorum of the Twelve Apostles teaches that Jesus “was the Great Jehovah of the Old Testament, the Messiah of the New.”¹⁴⁴ Scripture in the Book of Mormon helps to solidify Latter-day Saint knowledge about Jesus as the God of the Old Testament. In the Book of Mormon, the Savior is recorded as saying “Behold, I say unto you that the law is fulfilled that was given unto Moses. Behold, I am he that gave the law, and I am he who covenanted with my people Israel; therefore, the law in me is fulfilled, for I have come to fulfil the law; therefore it hath an end” (3 Nephi 15:4–5).

In the Old Testament, it is recorded that “God said unto Moses, I Am That I Am: and he said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I Am hath sent me unto you” (Exodus 3:14). In the New Testament, Christ affirms that he was the “I Am” that made that statement to Moses (John 8:58).

Except for the Jehovah’s Witnesses, who claim that the name of God is Jehovah, most other mainstream Christian sects, denominations, and movements believe that Christ was Jehovah. That said, there are differences between how Latter-day Saints and mainstream Christians believe in this concept. Since mainstream Christians believe that Jesus is a person united in the immaterial oneness of the trinity, Christians would say that God–and Jesus Christ being a person in the Trinity known as God–is Jehovah. Latter-day Saints say that Christ has a spatiotemporal difference from God and thus that he alone was Jehovah. Latter-day Saints believe that Jesus was given something called divine investiture. Divine investiture is the authority given by The Father to Jesus Christ to speak in the name of and act as if he were the Father. Those that belong to the broader Latter-day Saint movement have a unique and exclusive understanding of this concept.

It should be understood that the strict separation Latter-day Saints make today in calling the Father “Elohim” and the Son “Jehovah” is a modern one and that “Elohim” and “Jehovah” should not be understood as the actual personal names of the Father and the Son. Recall that Jesus was given “divine investiture” by The Father in order to speak and act in the name of the Father. Also, it is clear from reading the scripture that “Jehovah” was a name-title applied to the Father at times. For example, in the dedicatory prayer of the Kirtland Temple, Joseph Smith refers to the Father as “Jehovah” four times (Doctrine & Covenants 109:34, 42, 56, 68). A very good article explaining this development was written by FAIR, an organization comprised of Latter-day Saints who seek to defend the faith from criticism.¹⁴⁵

Knowing that the Savior could often act as God the Father and that he did often as the God of the Old Testament causes us to reflect on the nature of God and how we, as His children, can better emulate or express that nature in our individual quests to become more like him.